Dark Souls Remastered makes the grisliest undead lair look beautiful

When I first sat down to play the remastered version of Dark Souls, I had a moment of panic that was nothing to do with the grisly monsters inhabiting the decrepit kingdom of Lordran.

Instead, the character creation screen, birthplace of so many doomed souls setting out on a (usually) futile quest, greeted me with one of the most horrifically low-quality character models I'd ever seen, one practically ripped apart by its own jagged polygons. Could FromSoftware's cult favourite action RPG actually look worse on modern consoles than it did when it first tormented players back on PS3 in 2011?

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Thankfully, no. The creation screen – where I built a purple-haired female warrior carrying a Master Key – simply appears to be one of the last parts to be touched up in what proved to be an otherwise sterling upgrade of the original game. Once the true game began, dropping me into the fetid depths of the Undead Asylum, the improvements became immediately apparent.

The remaster, helmed by Polish studio Q-LOC and set to arrive on 25 May for PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC, sees the grim, gothic world of Dark Souls brought into the light of glorious full HD. It's odd to praise a dungeon, of all places, but the dank walls and labyrinthine ruins beneath them are now bleakly beautiful, with cascading lighting, rich textures and background details such as skittering cockroaches and scratches on cell walls from the previously damned bringing the world to life. The character model that had caused me so much concern just moments earlier looked significantly better in the main too, with intricate armour detailing and not a hint of those accursed jagged edges.

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Once I'd made my way through the starting area – slaying an Asylum Demon boss that's never looked better – another upgrade became apparent. Outside, a significantly improved draw distance revealed far off details, painting a more darkly evocative picture of the grim setting. The fallen world of Dark Souls has never seemed so vast or daunting, even if a lot of that distant detail is the visual equivalent of flavour text, never to be visited but still helping to paint a picture of Lordran.

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The ocular treats continue as you venture further into the game. While the preview session I attended was restricted to only the Firelink Shrine and Undead Burg, both areas looked spectacular, conveying the sense of a rotted, wasted realm where dark forces amass. As ever with Dark Souls, the story is minimal, conveyed more through environmental clues and the occasional line of dialogue from non-player characters than direct narrative. Having settings as detailed as they are in Remastered helps bring this world to life like never before. That said, some details are still a bit lacking, particularly foliage when zoomed in close, or the textures on certain stony materials.

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The final visual quality of the finished version will vary from platform to platform. I played through the preview on a PS4 debug unit, which, like the planned final release for 'regular' PS4 and Xbox One consoles, ran at 1080p. The Nintendo Switch will also hit this benchmark when docked, or 720p in handheld mode. On PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, the game is set to run at an upscaled 4K resolution, while PC players will enjoy native 4K, albeit with 2K textures. Framerate is also doubled to 60fps on PC and all PS4 and Xbox One models, though the Switch edition will still be capped at 30fps, as was the PS3 version.

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Mechanically, the remaster plays almost exactly as you may remember it. A few minor modifications to controls on PS4 – such as making use of the left side of the touch pad to bring up a gesture menu, mainly used to aid in visual communication with other players when online – are the only evidence of tampering. Otherwise, returning players will be able to jump right back in, with attacks, blocks and parries controlled with the trigger buttons, and items cycled through and used with the D-Pad and face buttons, respectively. All character classes and items from the original return, too, allowing for all the customisation options fans will expect.

Series adherents will be delighted to know that means it's every bit as tough as the 2011 release. Enemies still relentlessly target you once they spot you, and launch surprise attacks as you turn new corners. Resting at a bonfire remains a double edged sword, allowing you to recover health and spend the gathered souls of fallen foes to level up, but regenerating all those you've slain getting there. You can still die from just a few blows, or from blood loss, or any of dozens of other methods. No capitulations appear to have been made to make the game easier or more accessible – you're still going to need to "git gud" to survive the challenges ahead.

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Essentially, in remastering Dark Souls, Q-LOC appears to be following the likes of Shadow of the Colossus in making no structural changes to the existing game that fans fell in love with years ago. It's a very welcome trend when it comes to keeping older games viable for present-day players – if it ain't broke, don't add in a bunch of unwanted new features.

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While Dark Souls Remastered is predominantly focused on overhauling the visuals, there will be some technical updates underneath the gothic sprawl of the game too. This is mainly in the form of online infrastructure - the game will now support up to six online players, up from four on the original release. There will also be dedicated servers to support the multiplayer features at launch.

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With the spit and polish on show here, plus the Artorias of the Abyss DLC set to be included on day one (an extra mission folded into the main quest of Dark Souls, one that capapults the player into the past of this world to uncover its secrets), this should please dedicated fans and prove a welcome introduction to the series for new players. If the final texturing issues and the low-quality character creation screen are corrected before launch, and the later regions live up to the standards set by the opening areas, this could be the definitive Dark Souls experience.